A surgical simulator comprising a haptic arm capable of simulating forces generated during surgery from interactions between a surgical tool and tissue operated upon. The simulator further comprises a visual display capable of depicting a three-dimensional image of the simulated surgical tool and a physics-based computer model of the tissue. The haptic arm controls the movement and orientation of the simulated tool in the three-dimensional image, and provides haptic feedback forces to simulate forces experienced during surgery. Methods for simulating surgery and training users of the simulator are also described.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the two-dimensional view of the portion of the human body and the two-dimensional view showing the first surgical tool are displayed within a window on the display, and wherein the entire window is displayed over at least a portion of the three-dimensional image of the portion of the human body.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the simulated surgical tools comprises a tip and the tip comprises a simulated blade.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein the two-dimensional view shows the angle of the first simulated surgical tool in relation to the portion of the human body.
5. The system of claim 4, wherein the first simulated surgical tool comprises a tip, and the angle is measured as the angle between the line tangential to the closest point of the portion of the human body to the tip of the first simulated surgical tool and the orientation of the longitudinal axis of the tip of the first simulated surgical tool to the portion of the human body.
6. The system of claim 4, wherein the two-dimensional view further shows two range lines indicating a range of angles for the angle of the first simulated surgical tool.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein an area between the two range lines is highlighted with a color.
8. The system of claim 7 wherein the color changes depending on whether an angle of the first simulated surgical tool is within a predetermined range of angles.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein the guideline is deleted when the first haptic arm is moved.
11. The system of claim 9, wherein the guideline is deleted when the three-dimensional image of the first simulated surgical tool appears on the display.
12. The system of claim 9, wherein the guideline is displayed as above the first simulated surgical tool.
13. The system of claim 9, wherein the guideline is displayed as below the first simulated surgical tool.
14. The system of claim 13, wherein the appearance of a portion of the guideline is altered when the first simulated surgical tool passes above the guideline.
15. The system of claim 9, wherein the microscope is further configured to display an incision line indicating a virtual incision made by the first simulated surgical tool.
16. The system of claim 9, wherein the incision line is shown as the virtual incision is made.
17. The system of claim 15, wherein the display provides an indication if the virtual incision deviates beyond a predetermined distance from the guideline.
19. The system of claim 18, wherein the incision line is shown as the virtual incision is made.
20. The system of claim 19, wherein the indication is shown on the display.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
January 18, 2022
May 14, 2024
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